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We continue to learn more about the world of the Federation in Star Trek: Picard‘s third episode, “The End is the Beginning.” In the show’s third entry, we get a look back at why Jean-Luc Picard resigned from Starfleet and meet a few new characters–including one that returns from The Next Generation.

Once again, Picard is full of callbacks to the history of Star Trek and Jean-Luc’s time as the captain of the Enterprise, as well as stuff that has shaped his character over the years. Here’s a full rundown of all the Trek references and Easter eggs scattered throughout Episode 3.

Picard’s Resignation

We knew Picard left Starfleet following the destruction of the Romulan rescue armada, but in Episode 3, “The End is the Beginning,” we get a little more insight into what happened. Picard didn’t really leave Starfleet in protest–he tried to use his resignation as a bargaining chip to force Starfleet Command to mount the rescue mission. He and Raffi developed a plan that might still have saved the Romulans, but Starfleet didn’t go for it, and Raffi was fired as a result of Picard’s resignation. It seems like there’s more to this story, however.

Not My Starfleet

After tendering his resignation, Picard tells Raffi, “I never believed Starfleet would give in to intolerance and fear.” Picard’s belief in the institution of Starfleet was a huge part of his character, and he lived his life by its high-minded principles. Throughout TNG, he gave speeches about the importance of the things Starfleet stood for, like when he admonished Wesley Crusher in Season 5, telling him, “The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth.”

Hugh Returns

Though he doesn’t get much in the way of introduction, we meet a returning character from The Next Generation in Star Trek: Picard’s third episode: Hugh. Jean-Luc and the Enterprise crew discovered Hugh when he was a young Borg drone after his ship crashed, killing the other Borg drones aboard. Picard and his crew rescued Hugh with the intention of sending him back to the collective with a sort of computer virus that could destroy the Borg Collective, wiping out a mortal threat to the Federation–but during the course of his time with them, Hugh developed individuality. Picard abandoned the plan to destroy the Borg and offered to let him stay aboard the Enterprise, but Hugh opted to return to the Borg so that the Enterprise wouldn’t be discovered.

Hugh’s return to the Borg threw the Collective into disarray as his individuality spread to other drones. The resulting confusion left the Borg vulnerable to outside influences–which is when Data’s brother, Lore, found them. Lore talked the Borg into following him as he led them toward a goal on a path to become fully artificial. Eventually, the Enterprise crew discovered the Borg and found Hugh again, who helped them stop Lore.

Afterward, it was suggested that Hugh would become the leader of the freed Borg. We don’t know what’s happened since then, but it seems Hugh eventually had his implants removed and his humanity restored. It sounds like he had a hard time reintegrating into society, however.

Back In Space

When Picard meets Rios, he finds himself back in space for the first time in years, and it’s clearly a bit like coming home for the captain. A musical cue of the Star Trek theme picks up to mark the power of the occasion for Picard.

Emergency Medical Holograms (And More)

Star Trek: Voyager established a special computer program aboard Starfleet vessels known as the Emergency Medical Hologram–essentially, a holographic doctor. It seems that other holographic programs have been created to help keep ships running in emergencies.

A Tritanium Injury

When we first meet Rios, he’s dealing with a bit of a problem: a chunk of metal embedded in his shoulder. Rios mentions that it’s a piece of tritanium shrapnel. Star Trek fans will recognize that particular metal–it’s the material used in building a lot of starships, including Federation ships.

The Tragic Sense Of Life

When Picard visits Rios’s ship, he sees the pilot is reading a philosophy book called “The Tragic Sense of Life.” The 1912 work by Miguel de Unamuno centers on the idea that many people live tragically as they fight against the inevitability of death, and work to find a way to preserve their legacy beyond themselves. The work also deals with what Unamuno sees as the differences between faith and reason. It seems Rios is a bit of a philosopher at heart, and it’s hard to ignore the symbolism of the work for Jean-Luc Picard, who is himself a living legend struggling with the choice he’s made and the legacy he will leave behind.

A Gorn Egg

As Raffi is working through the encryptions Bruce Maddox has left behind on his files, she discovers a program labeled “Gorn Egg.” Though it’s just the name of an encryption program, the name “Gorn egg” is another reference to Kirk’s famous fight with a Gorn in the “Arena” episode of the original series.

Chief Contact With The Q Continuum

After Picard’s meeting with Rios, the pilot has a conversation with his Emergency Navigational Hologram that lays out some of Rios’s feelings about the captain. Through the discussion, the ENH lays out a bunch of Picard’s accomplishments from his years in The Next Generation. Picard was “Chief Contact with the Q Continuum,” thanks to Q’s repeated interactions with the Enterprise crew.

Arbiter of Succession For The Klingon Empire

In Season 4, Picard served the Klingon high council as its Arbiter of Succession–an impartial judge who helped administer Klingon law and choose a new chancellor, the Klingon’s leader.

Savior Of The Earth From Borg Invasion

Picard was instrumental in stopping the Borg on several occasions. After he was assimilated in Season 3 and turned into Locutus of Borg, Picard inadvertently helped the Borg destroy a Federation fleet at Wolf 359. The Enterprise crew saved Picard, and as he was being rescued, he helped Data send a signal to the Borg Collective that essentially put the attacking Borg Cube to sleep, destroying it.

In Star Trek: First Contact, Picard and the crew again stopped the Borg, this time from using time travel to assimilate humanity in its past and prevent the creation of the Federation.

Captain Of The Enterprise D and E

In The Next Generation, Picard served as the captain of the Enterprise-D, the fourth ship to bear that designation. It was destroyed in the movie Star Trek: Generations, and in the movies that followed, he took command of a new Enterprise, the Enterprise-E.

A Colleague Of Spock

Though Spock appeared in the original Star Trek series, which takes place about 100 years before The Next Generation, the Vulcan appears in Season 4 of TNG, thanks to Vulcans’ long lifespan. In the three-episode “Unification” arc, Spock leaves his post as a Federation ambassador and seemingly defects to Romulus. Picard and Data are ordered to locate Spock and find out what’s going on, and head to Romulus in Romulan disguises to find him. The Vulcans and the Romulans had once been the same people centuries earlier, before separating to become two different cultures. It turned out that Spock was working with dissidents who wanted to reunify the Romulans and Vulcans, but the whole thing turned out to be a Romulan trap.

“Engage”

Episode 3 finally sees Picard on the bridge of a ship and leading a crew–of sorts. The episode ends with the captain giving his famous order from his years on TNG: “Engage.” With the TNG theme rising in the background, we finally see Picard returning to where he belongs.

Kunai’s premise is a familiar one. Humankind has reached the pinnacle of technological advancement and brought about their own downfall, inviting an army of AI-controlled robots to nearly wipe out all life on earth. A small resistance of remaining humans and conflict-averse droids begin fighting back, but without a miracle, that battle is all but lost lost. Tabby, a cheerfully emoting tablet in ninja robes, is that miracle.

Kunai is both outlandish and endearing, starting squarely with its odd protagonist. Tabby–a dexterous tablet in a world dominated by robots with CRT-like heads and barely any traces of humankind–is on a quest to extinguish an AI uprising and prevent humanity’s extinction. Kunai’s world is fragmented into varied areas, giving you multiple paths to explore in its opening hours, with your growing toolset opening up new avenues to explore as you progress. Kunai features the familiar DNA of action-platformers and Metroidvanias, combining satisfying platforming and engrossing combat to great effect.

You start out with just a sword, and you can use it to quickly carve through the metal exteriors of robot foes and stylishly protect yourself from projectiles with a flurry of swings. You have a generous jump, too, that allows you to attack from above and continuously bounce between enemies after each swipe. Getting into a rhythm of bouncing off one enemy and directly onto the next while not missing an attack in between is both easy to grasp and satisfying to pull off. Kunai’s combat scenarios generally feature only a handful of enemies at a time, too, giving you ample space to feel like a kickass ninja consistently.

Adding to your airborne maneuverability early on are the kunai, a pair of grappling hooks equipped in each hand that let you swing around environments with ease. Augmenting standard movement with the aerial freedom of your kunai injects combat with a captivating sense of flow. It’s effortless to chain together swings to maintain airtime while bouncing between enemies to attack.

A variety of layouts from screen to screen challenge you to use your tools creatively. More open expanses let you freely hop around, but don’t offer many points for you to hook your kunai into. Cramped pathways limit your aerial maneuverability, encouraging you to deflect more projectiles and choose your attacks wisely. Each area throws in unique elements that supplement this–the dense forest features vines that you can use to climb on while mines feature fragile walls that crumble if you swing from them–keeping platforming and combat entertaining throughout.

You’re free to explore the multiple areas of Kunai’s large map as far as your equipment will take you. Each new item you find doubles as both a weapon and a tool to navigate the world in new ways. Your dual machine guns, for example, act as both a powerful medium range attack and a creative means to float over large gaps, since you can use downward fire to sustain your jump for as long as you have bullets to fire. Each new item’s use is also easy to understand from the get-go, calling to mind locked doors or obstructed pathways that can now be cleared with your new abilities, making it easy to decide where to push onto next.

Each new item expands your limited moveset in exciting ways, but navigating to each specific part of the map where they might be useful becomes taxing quickly. Individual segments in Kunai’s areas offer up enough variety in their construction to encourage different combat strategies, but they don’t coalesce in a way that makes navigating the same spaces as interesting on return visits. In some cases coming to the end of a critical path and reaching its respective goal is deflated by the realisation that you need to navigate all the way back to where you started, sometimes without anything new in your arsenal to shake up the return journey. It’s disappointing to brush through an area with a fine comb only to be contacted over radio and redirected without any real narrative progression, especially when there are no fast-travel systems to alleviate the backtracking.

This is exacerbated in some later stages in which it can be unclear where your next objective lies, with all possible paths requiring a tool you don’t yet have. The aimless wandering is especially tiresome because poking around Kunai’s world isn’t incredibly rewarding either, even with optional chests hidden throughout each area for you to uncover. Some contain cosmetic hats for some visual variety while others hold valuable in-game currency for upgrades, but it’s the few featuring parts of a health upgrade that are worth seeking out. The issue is that the majority of the chests lie at the end of passageways hidden entirely from view, only revealing themselves when you accidentally brush close to their entrance and cause the textures obfuscating them to fade away. It’s a disappointingly basic way to hide them, making your discoveries feel more lucky than well deduced.

Although navigating each area multiple times isn’t as fun as it should be, the gorgeous visual shifts between them are a delight. Kunai’s limited color palette is used to accentuate its varied areas with subtlety. Each of the areas features different muted colours for their backdrop, such as the flat greys and dim blues of its opening factory and the bright greens of its AI-infested forests. The variation makes shifting between each area not only clear but visually delightful too. While most colors are muted, bright reds are especially prominent. Not only does it help make enemies and points of importance stand out from the background, it imbues each slash of your sword and subsequent connecting strike with a powerful punch that bathes the screen in sharp, contrasting red hues. It works in tandem with a well-measured screenshake effect that gives Kunai’s combat a stylish look in motion.

This sense of style doesn’t transition, however, to Kunai’s limited story. It sets up an initial premise and gives you an understanding of what you’re fighting for, but doesn’t leave much for you to uncover about its world beyond that. The only avenue for learning more about Kunai’s world is through limited but surprisingly entertaining interactions with other resistance robots. Usually denoted by their chunky CRT monitor heads and calming blue shading, these side characters add some levity to the setting by making light of disastrous events with silly puns and small, humorous anecdotes. Although there are other important named characters that are meant to add more to the narrative, they don’t stand out as much as each brief interaction you have when arriving at a new camp.

It’s disappointing that there isn’t more to dig into when it comes down to Kunai’s set dressing, especially when it’s paired with such a striking visual style and engrossing combat. Kunai’s level design pushes you to keep adapting while affording you the space to finish off a group of enemies with a series of pinpoint grappling hook swings, precise double jumps, and intelligently integrated swings of your sword. Kunai loses some of its momentum far too frequently, but when it hits a balance between its engrossing combat and satisfying platforming, it’s difficult to put down.

We’re now three episodes into Star Trek: Picard, and only now is one of Starfleet’s greatest captains finally getting back to the final frontier. As with the first two episodes, “Remembrance” and “Maps and Legends,” the third episode of the series struggles with pacing and reliance on info dumps–but at least things are starting to pick up as the show finally gets Jean-Luc Picard back where he belongs.

The last episode of Star Trek: Picard concerned Jean-Luc’s continued investigation into what happened to Dahj (Isa Briones) and the people who were hunting her. In the third episode, “The End is the Beginning,” the captain starts to put together a crew to track down Soji (also Briones), Dahj’s sister, before the agents of the Romulan Zhat Vash can find her. Most of the episode has Picard (Patrick Stewart) convincing various people to help him out as he prepares to leave Earth, and honestly, the captain’s return to space can’t happen soon enough.

The upshot of “The End is the Beginning,” despite Star Trek: Picard’s slow-burn approach so far, is that it puts a lot of time into developing the other characters who seem like they’ll be a major part of the show going forward. We get the backstory of the relationship between Picard and Raffi (Michelle Hurd), his former first officer on the USS Verity who lost her career because of Picard’s resignation, and who harbors a lot of resentment because of it. We meet Rios (Santiago Cabrera), the pilot who’ll carry Picard back to the Final Frontier, who has become a brooding loner because of some Starfleet tragedy in his past. We see the fresh-faced Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) as she realizes that she has a chance to continue her life’s work by joining Picard’s team. And we’re re-introduced to Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco), the former Borg drone Picard and the Enterprise crew met during The Next Generation, who has a major role working with Soji on the Borg Cube known as the Artifact.

Up to now, Star Trek: Picard has done some solid work updating Picard’s character with this new take on his story, but the first two episodes were a little thin on development of other characters. We know there’s a Romulan conspiracy that’s targeting Soji, but we have almost no information about the people involved or their motivations. And we know Soji is working with former Borg drones on the Artifact, but not exactly what she’s trying to accomplish there. “The End is the Beginning” puts a lot more effort into adding to the cast beyond Picard himself, and that work in establishing other characters feels like it should start to pay off shortly.

The trouble is, we’re still waiting. Episode 3 is yet another chapter that feels like it’s putting all its effort into setting up the rest of the season’s story arc, without a lot happening in the here and now. The bad guys continue to have menacing but mostly detail-free conversations with each other, while Picard and his allies continue to uncover spare tidbits about what they should be doing next. It’s the same pacing problem that we’ve seen in the first two episodes of Picard, although Episode 3 is a little better about pushing characters into action–eventually.

The problems of the early episodes persist in Episode 3, however. A lengthy scene with Soji provides a little more context about what her job is on the Artifact: She’s specifically attempting to work with Romulans who were freed from their Borg assimilation. The scene expends a lot of effort on more Trek technobabble, though, with Soji saying she’s attempting to study how a “shared mythological framework” might help former Borg recover–whatever that means. The scene’s real function is to add an element of dread to Soji’s character as the Romulan former drones react to her as if she’s some prophesied evil figure, which suggests deeper undertones as to why the Zhat Vash are after her–but the details remain extremely thin, and the scene itself is more confusing than edifying.

In fact, it all remains pretty slow. As an important part of Picard’s history involving the Borg, Hugh is potentially a big addition to the ensemble, but it doesn’t seem like the show has much of a plan for him at the moment. The captain’s meeting with Rios sets up the pilot’s personal angst, but we’ll have to wait for it to come to fruition. Agnes is visited by Starfleet’s Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita), but any seeds that’ll lead Picard and his team to the conclusion that she’s on the wrong side are only just being planted. It seems Narek (Harry Treadaway) might be getting too close to Soji even as he tries to use her to find more androids, but we’ll have to wait to see how it affects him. There’s a lot going on in Picard, but none of it is happening right now. The show is all dramatic tension since we know much more about what’s happening than most of its characters, and unfortunately, we’re spending all of our time waiting for everyone else to catch up.

The good news is that the foundations are laid, the context is in place, the players are in position, and the captain has returned to the bridge. Things are about to start happening in Star Trek: Picard. Too bad we have to wait another week for them.

Filming on The Matrix 4 has begun in San Francisco, and videos and images from the set have emerged that provide the first look at Keanu Reeves in the upcoming action film.

In one scene, Reeves is seen blocking his eyes from the sun as he stares into the distance. A camera moves in before a director calls cut. Check out the video below, and another image further down.

Reeves returns in The Matrix 4 to play Neo once more. He’s joined by Carrie-Anne Moss, who reprises her role as Trinity, and Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe. Among the new cast members for the movie are Priyanka Chopra, Jonathan Groff, and Neil Patrick Harris.

Hugo Weaving is not going to return as Agent Smith due to a scheduling conflict.

Lana Wachowski returns to direct The Matrix 4. It comes to theatres on May 21, 2021–which is also the release date for another Reeves-starring action sequel, John Wick: Chapter 4.

The first Matrix movie brought in $463.5 million worldwide, and it spawned two sequels: 2003’s Matrix Reloaded–grossing $742.1 million worldwide–and Matrix Revolutions–taking in $427.3 million worldwide. For more, check out The Matrix Sequels’ 34 Dumbest Moments to relive the weirdness.

Online retailer Amazon has rolled out a very good deal on the Xbox One X. The store is currently selling multiple different Xbox One X models for only $350 USD. The system normally retails for $500 USD, so this is a markdown of $150 USD.

The 1TB Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, NBA 2K20, and multiple Gears 5 bundles are available. The Limited Edition Gears 5 bundle comes with a specially designed console featuring the Crimson Omen symbol and a matching controller, as well as copies of Gears 5, Gears of War 4, Gears of War 3, Gears of War 2, and the remastered version of the original Gears of War.

The $350 price point for the Xbox One X is the same as Microsoft’s Black Friday deals, so this is indeed a very deep discount.

Xbox One X Deals — $350 USD

These Xbox One X deals–some of which are also available directly through Microsoft, Target, and Best Buy–arrive ahead of the Xbox Series X launch later this year. That console won’t have exclusive games right away, and it will also work with the Xbox One controllers you may already have.

Rod Fergusson, head of Gears of War developer The Coalition, has announced he is leaving the studio to join Blizzard. Fergusson has been instrumental in the Gears of War franchise from its inception, having worked on the very first entry in the franchise and every follow-up since.

In a tweet, Fergusson confirmed he is joining Blizzard in March to oversee the Diablo franchise. He also thanked his former co-workers at The Coalition and Xbox. “Leaving is bittersweet as I love our Gears family, the fans, and everyone at The Coalition and Xbox,” he said. “Thank you, it has been an honor and a privilege to work with you all.”

Fergusson has had a rather storied career in video game development, in between working on Gears titles. In 2011 he left Epic Games and joined Irrational Games in 2012 as executive vice president of development. He is often credited with helping BioShock Infinite‘s development get back on track and reach the finish line. He also worked as a studio head at 2K and manager at Black Tusk, which became The Coalition.

The Coalition’s latest entry in the series was Gears 5, which has received favorable reviews. The game began pushing the franchise in new directions both narratively and in terms of design. Most notably, it introduced semi-open world areas, as well as vehicle-based exploration. Gears of War 4 and Gears 5 also shifted the focus away from Marcus, Dom, and other franchise staple characters to a new generation of characters. These two games have laid a strong foundation for the future, should The Coalition and Xbox pursue it. The next game in the Gears of War universe is set to be Gears Tactics, which releases on April 28.

GameSpot recently featured Fergusson on an episode of Audio Logs, in which he broke down the journey of the franchise’s most unlikely hero: Jack. You can watch that above.

A new month has arrived, and that means there’s a new batch of Field Research tasks in Pokemon Go. As usual, February’s Field Research tasks can be obtained by spinning the Photo Disc at PokeStops, and completing them will earn you rewards, which can range from helpful items like Berries and Poke Balls to encounters with certain Pokemon.

On top of those rewards, the first Field Research task you complete each day will also net you a stamp. Each time you collect seven stamps, you’ll achieve a Research Breakthrough, which will earn you additional rewards, including an encounter with a special Pokemon. Last month’s Research Breakthrough reward was Lapras that knew Ice Beam or Ice Shard, but this month, you’ll have a chance to catch a new Gen 5 Pokemon instead: Woobat.

The Field Research tasks you obtain will be randomly drawn from a larger pool, so there’s no telling which ones you’ll receive. Up to three Field Research tasks can be active at a time, but you can discard any that may be giving you trouble and receive a different task from another PokeStop. You can see the updated list of Pokemon Go’s Field Research tasks–along with the possible rewards they dole out–below, courtesy of The Silph Road.

February is shaping up to be a particularly busy month for Pokemon Go. Niantic has a ton of events lined up for this month, including a Sinnoh celebration that will make it easier to find Gen 4 Pokemon and a new Team Rocket Special Research quest that will lead to a chance to catch Shadow Raikou. This month will also bring a few more Gen 5 Pokemon to the game, including the Legendary Tornadus.

February’s Community Day, meanwhile, is set for Saturday, February 22. This time around, Niantic let players vote on what the featured Pokemon is. The results of the voting will be announced on February 3.

Pokemon Go February 2020 Field Research Tasks

Catching Tasks

Battling Tasks

Throwing Tasks

Hatching Tasks

Misc. Tasks

Buddy Tasks